Raw Recipes -- Pudding, Pies, & Lara Bar

I think my very favorite raw recipe is Mango Pie. I've probably said that about other raw things, but I truly think it's the Mango Pie because that's the one food that I lick from the bowl to the very last bit every time I make it. It's so easy and wonderful. If you don't have the dates and nuts (or time) for the crust, you just leave out the crust and it's Mango Pudding.

A quick word about mangoes: They need to be ripe to taste wonderful in this recipe (or any time IMHO). If the skin is soft and smooshy like a yoga mat when you touch it, it will be bright orange like the picture, sweet smelling, and ripe (and will be easy to slice through).

Mango Pie
1 c. almonds
1/4 c. dates (soaked)

Blend up almonds and dates in a food processor. Pat them into the bottom of a pie pan. If you'd rather just sprinkle them over the top of the filling afterwards, it tastes just the same :).

4 Mangos
4 Bananas
a few other fruits cut-up (kiwi, bananas, peaches, or strawberries)

Blend up the mangos and bananas in the food processor (or you can blend them in a blender, but you have to add maybe 1/4 c. water first to get it soft enough to blend).

Stir cut fruit into pie filling and then pour into pie pan (or dish that you'll later sprinkle crust on top of).

Eat right away if you'd like. Refrigerate. If you don't eat it within a day, the top may brown a bit (probably due to the bananas), but it still tastes fine.

Mango Pudding
I eat this all the time for breakfast. The recipe is the same as above, only without the crust. Since you use the same amount of mangoes and bananas, you can use any number -- just 1 and 1 for a bowl full or more if you want to serve others or save some. It makes a good smoothie base too. I'll copy and paste the other directions so you have it here and don't have to look above and figure it out :).

4 Mangos (or any number as long as you match it with the bananas)
4 Bananas
a few other fruits cut-up (kiwi, bananas, peaches, or strawberries)

Blend up the mangos and bananas in the food processor (or you can blend them in a blender, but you have to add maybe 1/4 c. water first to get it soft enough to blend -- I tend to use the blender more when I'm just making the pudding because I didn't need to mess up the food processor with the crust ingredients).

Eat up and be sure to lick every last bit!

Apple Pie
2 c. sunflower seeds
1 c. raisins, soaked
1/2 apple

Blend in a food processor and pat into the bottom of a pie pan. If you're just eating raw foods, make sure the sunflower seeds are raw. If you don't mind cooked, you can use regular ones (and it actually tastes better in my little opinion with that toastedness :))

7 apples
8 dates (soaked)
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 t. cinnamon

In a food processor, blend 2 of the apples with the dates until smooth and set aside mixture in another bowl. Blend the other 5 apples into bigger chopped pieces. Add to the date mixture. Add last 3 ingredients. Pour filling into pie crust and let stand for about an hour for the flavors to settle. Refrigerate.

Last time I made this, I wanted to try something different with it after about a day. So I dehydrated the rest into little apple cookies. It was fun to have as a snack, which reminds me............

Homemade Apple Pie Lara Bar
I love the Apple Pie Lara Bars, I mean LOVE them, but at over a dollar a piece (IF they're on sale -- sometimes they're almost $2 each!), they're just too expensive.

So I looked at the ingredients and experimented a bit . They came out pretty close, not necessarily in texture, but definitely in flavor.

1 c. soaked dates
1/2 c. dates (not soaked)
1/2 c. almonds
1/4 c. walnuts
3 apples
2 T. (or 1/8 c.) raisins
2 t. cinnamon

In a food processor, blend up dates until smooth. Add in nuts until they're chopped fine, Add in apples, raisins, and cinnamon. Blend well. You can just form them into balls and keep them in the fridge, but they're kind of wet. I guess you could roll them in cinnamon to dry them a bit. I kept mine in the fridge for about a week, then formed the rest into cookie size pieces and dehydrated them at 108 degrees for several hours. My 8 year old daughter and her friends loved them as much as I did.

Speaking of dehydrating fruits
Every once in awhile when I make a fruit smoothie or pudding, I'll dehydrate some of it for a yummy fruit roll. They never last long, but are wonderful snacks! The only fruit I haven't liked in a fruit roll is kiwi. For some reason it develops this really tangy, awful bite that makes it not all that pleasant. Maybe it ferments or something. I still eat it, but others don't seem to enjoy it and I'd rather have it without.

Rocky Road Pudding
I really should include this in a post all about the wonders of Baby Coconuts (or young coconut or Thai coconut -- white with a pencil shaved top, not the brown furry kind), but I'm going to include it here since I mentioned the Mango Pudding. I developed this recipe because I love to drink the juice from the young coconuts, but don't like the coconut meat all by itself (or even in smoothies -- and I've tried). Many recipes with young coconut meat have a lot of ingredients I don't have, so I made this up for my chocolate-loving self with what I already had.

Scooped out coconut meat from 1 young coconut
1/4 c. dates (soaked)
1/4 c. cacao (or cocoa powder)
1/4 c. almonds
2 T. agave nectar

Blend up in the food processor. Let the almonds stay a little chunky so you get that wonderfully crunchy rocky road flare. If you freeze it, it really does taste like ice cream. I never end up eating as much as I would of regular ice cream -- maybe because it's so rich (and it's more filling with the nuts).

I'll write about baby coconuts next week so you can see you don't need to be afraid to eat them. Yes, they have fat in them, but I've never gained an ounce eating them (in fact, I lose weight whenever I have them in my diet and have wonderfully clear skin, yes, even with the chocolate in it!)